Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has berated critics of his administration’s decision to create a Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment.
According to Okorocha, the achievements of the ministry will be so amazing, critics of the initiative will regret bashing the new ministry even before it takes off.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor said former governor of the state, Ikedi Ohakim and the 2015 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Emeka Ihedioha are least qualified to criticise any of his policies or programmes.
The statement said: “Okorocha is a man of ideas who thinks about the present and the generations yet unborn. He does not misfire on any issue, the attendant criticisms notwithstanding. When the new ministry begins to bear the expected fruits, the accolades will envelop the early criticisms.
“We accept all the criticisms in good faith and commend the critics. That is what makes the society dynamic and our democracy juicy. The truth is that, the new ministry is not an accidental discharge but, a well-thought out idea that will benefit Imo people, in particular, and all men and women of goodwill in general. We only ask the critics to give us time.
“Some people have also talked about Jacob Zuma’s statue as a referenced case. The criticisms that greeted the statue were all anchored on the corruption allegations against the South African president. Yet, the fact remains that the man is still the president of that country. He has neither been sentenced to imprisonment nor impeached following these corruption claims.
“We also want to let the public know that Ohakim and Ihedioha are not qualified to criticise Okorocha on any policy or programme. Ohakim was governor for four years and has no achievement to his credit. “
“And that administration could only be associated with the flogging of citizens, including a priest. Today, Owerri has 12 lane roads, three tunnels, two fly-overs, five in-land roads, four pedestrian bridges, streetlights and befitting structures, courtesy of Okorocha.
“Chief Ihedioha was in the House of Representatives for 12 years and ended up being the deputy speaker but could not fix the only market called Nkwo-Mbutu in his ward, Mbutu, and all the Niger Delta Development Commission projects that have developed K-legs in the state are directly or indirectly linked to him.
“That was the reason he could only extract victory in the three local governments of Mbaise where he comes from, with INEC, and all the federal agencies fully behind him during the 2015 election.
“Rochas has more than 1,000 completed and verifiable projects located in various parts of the state. His achievements have surpassed the achievements of all those who had governed the state before him put together. Anybody with contrary claim should come forward with his facts or verifiable claims.
“We also want to use this opportunity to reiterate that the Imo State government is not owing workers’ salary. The government has been up to date in the payment of salaries.
“On the issue of pension, the government has also shown interest and commendable commitment to the payment. In December 2016, the government cleared all arrears of pension and began monthly payment this year. The government has only few months to clear and is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that the few outstanding months are also cleared. We stand to be challenged on all our claims.”
